| The Care and Safe Storage of Crystals and Gems |
From "Jewelry Making"
episode DJMK-102 |
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Host Jackie Guerra shares her tips for keeping crystals, beads and gems sparkling. - Storing your crystals in cotton can be potentially harmful to your gem. Storing them in plastic sandwich bags would be much safer.
- Gems can be cleaned without spending a lot of money on jewelry cleaner. Simply use small amounts of ammonia and water. Certain gems, like pearls, lapus lazuli, and opals should not be cleaned this way because they are too porous. They should only be cleaned with a weak solution of dishwashing liquid and water and dried off with a soft cloth.
- Amber, like the other porous gems above, needs to be cleaned gently, but do not over-clean them as too much washing can eventually lead the gem to breaking down.
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